Darts legend Phil Taylor’s biggest jackpot came in another sport and was ‘tax-free’
DARTS legend Phil Taylor has revealed that at one stage his biggest-ever career jackpot came in a completely different line of work.
The Power is widely regarded as the greatest darts player of all time, with 16 world championship titles to his name (14 PDC, 2 BDO).
Taylor, 64, won his first BDO world title in 1990 and his first PDC world title (third overall) in 1995, landing £24,000 and £12,000 in prize money respectively.
As Taylor racked up the world titles, the prize money went up as well.
He eventually picked up his 12th world title in 2005 to earn £60,000.
However, Taylor then made the biggest win of his career playing a different game altogether, poker.
Speaking to GB News, Taylor explained how he pocketed £78,000 in tax-free cash by complete accident.
He said: “Up until about 12 World Championships, my biggest win was poker. It was a TV studio in Maidstone, Barry Hearn was the manager and I used to get invited to poker tournaments.
“I got through to the final and got beaten by [snooker player] Matthew Stevens in the final.
“There were three finalists. It was me, Stevens and [Yevgeny] Kalfelinikov, the tennis player. I won £78,000! Do you know what was even better? Tax-free!
“[Former chairperson of the PDC] Barry Hearn always told me I had a council house mentality, which I have.
“He said if you saw a £50 note on the floor, you’d pick it up before me. I said, ‘I’d rugby tackle you! Make sure you didn’t pick it up!’
“I’m not really [that good at poker]. I had a few lessons the night before, I went into the tournament, because you play over a few stages.
“So I went in, they couldn’t read me because I didn’t really know what I was doing, professionals, and I just blagged it and I got through the first table, went again to Maidstone and got through again and they invited me to the final.
“I still didn’t know what I was doing!”
Taylor would eventually eclipse this figure in his main line of work in 2006, landing a much-improved £100,000 prize pot when he whitewashed Peter Manley 7-0.
He would go on the win the World Darts Championship three more times, in 2009, 2010 and 2013.
Those tournaments earned him prize money of £125,000 and £200,000 twice.
However, with two more appearances in the final, in 2015 and 2018, Taylor lost out on even more prize money.
Gary Anderson beat him to the £250,000 prize fund in 2015 while Rob Cross defeated Taylor in 2018 to win £400,000, the latter being his final appearance before retiring.
The most recent world champion, Luke Littler, picked up £500,000 for the win which has been the case since 2019.
List of all-time Darts World Champions
BELOW is a list of darts world champions by year.
The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.
That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included.
- 1994 – Dennis Priestley
- 1995 – Phil Taylor
- 1996 – Phil Taylor (2)
- 1997 – Phil Taylor (3)
- 1998 – Phil Taylor (4)
- 1999 – Phil Taylor (5)
- 2000 – Phil Taylor (6)
- 2001 – Phil Taylor (7)
- 2002 – Phil Taylor (8)
- 2003 – John Part
- 2004 – Phil Taylor (9)
- 2005 – Phil Taylor (10)
- 2006 – Phil Taylor (11)
- 2007 – Raymond van Barneveld
- 2008 – John Part (2)
- 2009 – Phil Taylor (12)
- 2010 – Phil Taylor (13)
- 2011 – Adrian Lewis
- 2012 – Adrian Lewis (2)
- 2013 – Phil Taylor (14)
- 2014 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2015 – Gary Anderson
- 2016 – Gary Anderson (2)
- 2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2)
- 2018 – Rob Cross
- 2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3)
- 2020 – Peter Wright
- 2021 – Gerwyn Price
- 2022 – Peter Wright (2)
- 2023 – Michael Smith
- 2024 – Luke Humphries
- 2025 – Luke Littler
Most World Titles
- 14 – Phil Taylor
- 3 – Michael van Gerwen
- 2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright
- 1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries, Luke Littler
Remember to gamble responsibly
A responsible gambler is someone who:
- Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
- Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
- Never chase their losses
- Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry or depressed
- Gamcare – www.gamcare.org.uk
- GambleAware – www.gambleaware.org
For help with a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to www.gamstop.co.uk to be excluded from all UK-regulated gambling websites.